There's alot of renewed fascination out there today of the mythical creatures known as vampires. They are making headlines with best selling books, movies, and have been making waves on the small screen as well. So what's all the hype about, anyway?

Turns out there's alot of history behind the pointy-toothed monsters; even more than what we've learned from the previously mentioned medias. To this end, Dorling Kindersley has compiled a book dedicated to these scary creatures of the night.

True to DK form, the book is put together with tidbits of information paired with colourful pictures on lovely, thick pages. It gives the book that extra, reference type feel. It talks of different societies' myths and legends, of the different forms vampires have taken over the years, and the evolution that has brought them into the newest form of pop cultural fame today. There's some interesting true life stories recounted, too; just enough to maybe make you look over your shoulder at night.

While the age range states from 10 years and up, there are some particularly gruesome pictures involved (though when you're dealing with blood sucking fiends a little gruesomeness is hard to avoid). I think this is a great gift idea for the vampire lover in your life or an excellent addition to your own library, right beside all those books featuring a certain 100 year old vampire that I know you have!

We are very excited to offer up this wonderful contest to our followers! Thanks to Chris at DK Canada, he is kindly providing us with a set of either LEGO Brickmaster Pirates or the LEGO Brickmaster Castle as an awesome prize to one lucky winner.

To enter, please leave you email address below and tell us (briefly) if you have a favourite pirate or castle related book, movie, toy or story. You must be a follower to enter. This contest is open to Canadian addresses only but if you live outside of this area we encourage you to go check out these great products! (Check out Melissa and Jacob's review of the Brickmaster Castle to see why.)

Contest closes January 15th, 2010.
For every tweet, blog post/sidebar link you get an extra entry (just provide a link)

The fine print: E-mail addresses provided will be submitted to DK to be added to their newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time after the contest has ended (though we here at Rated By Kids think you should stay on their list; they have such wonderful, colourful books, toys, etc. for ages 0-100 that it's great to see what's up and coming from them!)

*THIS REVIEW DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS B/C IT IS THE SECOND BOOK IN THE SERIES. SORRY!

Synopsis of Book 1:Book One of The Missing is titled, FOUND. (This will contain spoilers). It starts off when an airplane suddenly appears at an airport and is discovered to hold about 30 infants in infant seats but no adults and no pilot. The airport scrambles to find out what happens and deboards all of the babys to the hangar. As the last baby is de-planed and taken to the main building, the airplane dissapears and never to be seen again. Skip 13 years later, and the story of FOUND begins, following Johan and his friend Chip as they discover that they were adopted, their origin on the plane, and where they really came from. It involved time travel and a lot of futuristic concepts with the story ending as Chip, Jonah, Katherine, and Alex are transported back in time.

Book 2, SENT, begins in the place.Thirteen-year-olds Jonah and Chip are reeling from the news that they're both missing children from history, kidnapped from their proper time period. Before they can fully absorb this revelation, a time purist named JB zaps Chip and another boy, Alex, back to the fifteenth century, where they supposedly belong. Determined not to lose their friends, Jonah and his sister, Katherine, grab Chip's arms just as he's being sent away. The result? Jonah and Katherine also end up in the fifteenth century, where they decidedly do not belong. Chip's true identity is Edward V, king of England, and Alex is his younger brother, Richard, Duke of York. But Chip is convinced that his uncle, Richard of Gloucester, plans to kill them and seize the throne for himself. JB promises that if the kids can "fix time," he will allow them to return to the present day. But how can they possibly return home safely when history claims that Chip and Alex were murdered? In a riveting tale that climaxes on the battlefield at Bosworth, master storyteller Margaret Peterson Haddix brings readers back in time to an unforgettable moment in history and plunges them into the adventure of a lifetime.

My Thoughts:
I adore this book series. It may be written for intermediate grade level children, but Haddix is one of my favorite children's authors. She once again has delivered a fantastic, fun read. She also taught a bit of history and kept it as true to reality as possible. She made history fun which can be daunting for 10 year olds. Jonah is a typical kid in his character; he displayes the sass of a regular 13 year boy showing protectiveness over his little sister, but still clearly annoyed by her at the same time. This book is once again a "can't put down page turner" with cliff hanger chapter endings. Book 3 should be amazing. A great read for the young, both literal and of mind.

This book, published by DK books, is intended for an age range of 10 years and older. It's full of pictures and factoids, with lots of information on what our brains are and how we can use them.

When I brought it home to look through, my 7 year old daughter grabbed it first, then my 65 year old dad got into it too. Between them, they tried working on the puzzles throughout the book, including things like left brain/right brain coordination and optical illusions. What I take from this is that it's an awesome reference for any age. I think, in particular, Jordan loved it because of the cartoons and vivid pictures, some even a little gross at times. But kids are quite often attracted to these the most. While her understanding might still be limited, the images piqued her interest enough that she wanted to actually read the facts accompanying the visuals. That's good, right? Absolutely, I say.

As I browsed through the pages, I could see how much information was provided. It talks about the different senses and how you can trick some or experiment with them. There are many other facets discussed, too, and put in such a way that even if we already know some things, there's definitely other, new information in there to be gleaned.

This is a great reference for school projects or just general knowledge, making it fun for kids (and adults) to learn about what's going on in their heads. Definitely a cool book!

Building bricks and books come together in this fantastic set. With more than 140 LEGO ® bricks and two minifigures, LEGO ® aficionados can build to their heart's content. The hardcover book features easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions on how to build castle or pirate models. Or, young builders can come up with their own fantasy castles or pirate lairs for the ages! Dynamic full-color photos and clear illustrations make this the perfect book-and-toy set for all LEGO ® fans. There's no end to the creative building options for young LEGO ® Brickmasters ™ everywhere!

Jacob's thoughts:

I liked how easy it was to read the instructions so I could build everything. When I made my first castle, I had so much fun building and playing with it. I really liked that you could build lots of different sets. Lego is so much fun because you can build anything you want.

Mom's thoughts:

I wish every Lego set was like this! The "cover" is actually a box that holds all the Lego pieces and lists all pieces included in the set, while the pages of the book inside contain the instruction booklets. I know we have a drawer filled with various booklets from other sets and after the first build they hardly get used again. With this Lego set, the Lego pieces & booklets are kept nice & safe. Another bonus is that the Lego pieces in the set are used to make 13 different models & 7 different scenes. Included with each scene is a little paragraph describing the scene. My son would make one model then flip the page & start the building process all over again.I'm not sure how many times he's built each scene, it really is endless fun! Currently there are only two versions (Castle and Pirate) but I am hoping to see more in the future. I would have to say this is one of my favorite toys of 2009.

Book Description:
When we last saw George and Harold, they were about to take their pet pterodactyl Crackers back to the Cretaceous period. But things didn't work out quite as they had hoped. They've entered an absurd alternate reality where teachers are nice, kids are allowed to read banned books, and the cafeteria food doesn't smell like dirty diapers. Even worse, they've discovered alternate versions of themselves--Evil George and Evil Harold--who plan to unleash some preposterous plans on Piqua, Ohio. Now it's up to George and Harold to defeat the evil twins and THEIR superhero, Captain Blunderpants!

Caleb's thoughts (age 8):

This book is about George and Harold's evil twins and when they come to their world. I liked when the evil twins turned the principal into Captain Blubberpants. I liked this part because it was funny. George and Harold's grandma and grandpa turned into superheroes and I thought that was pretty awesome. At the end, Professor Poopypants came from the giant pants. My favorite part about Captain Underpants books are the stories because they are funny to me.

Mom's thoughts:

Caleb loves Captain Underpants and its not hard to see why. One look inside the cover and you'll discover comic strips, "loud" illustrations, and activities among the story; all elements that young children love. While I may not appreciate the Captain's humor, I can appreciate my son's enthusiasm to read it. He finished this book in 2 days, reading much longer than his required reading time for homework. This book appeals to boys, and since boys are the hardest to-reach-readers, I don't care what the plot is...I'll let Caleb read Captain Underpants anytime.

At recess the schoolyard is full of happy kids. Scott is making snowmen. Jim is working on the world’s greatest snow fort. At lunchtime they join forces… to create a prefect snow surprise!

Barbara Reid combines her renowned Plasticine art with ink and watercolour panels to bring a timeless Canadian tale of winter fun to life.

Jacob's thoughts:

I really, really liked this book. My favorite part was when the big twister of kids happened. It was funny when Jim said he wanted to make the "totally massive, indestuctible Snow Fortress of Doom". The big fort was really cool. I wish it would snow soon so I could make a snowmen fort like that too!

Mom's thoughts:

The story is fun for the kids, while at the same time provides a subtle lesson on teamwork and compromise. The illustrations are absolutely stunning. Along with the colorful Plasticine art, snap shots (almost like mini comics) are used to show action sequences. One page is an aerial shot of the kids during recess in the school yard playing in the snow and the first time we read the book, Jacob had to search out the main characters Jim & Scott (almost like Where's Waldo). Each time we read this book, somewhere in the story Jacob stops to say "I really like this book". This was a great read-a-long book for me and both kids (Jacob being age 7 and his brother almost 3). I can see us reading this book many, many times this winter.